Abstract

SESSION TYPE: Outcomes/Quality Control Posters

PRESENTED ON: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM

PURPOSE: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) refers to the sudden cessation of cardiac mechanical activity with hemodynamic collapse and death. Despite aggressive cardiopulmonary resuscitation and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), the outcome of patients experiencing SCA remains poor. We describe the characteristics of ten patients who had in-hospital SCA and survived to discharge from our county hospital over a 2 year period.

METHODS: All patients experiencing cardiac arrest from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2011 while being cared for in our hospital were reviewed. Data were abstracted retrospectively from chart review as well as evaluation of labs, demographics and nursing code sheets.

RESULTS: 59 patients suffered 98 episodes of cardiac arrest over the 2 year time period. Ten patients (16%) survived to hospital discharge. The average age of the survivors was 46 +/- 13, seven survivors were male and five were African American. The most common cause of cardiac arrest was PEA, representing 60% of cases. Eight patients had followed up as outpatients and were without any significant cognitive or physical limitations, while one had subsequently passed away and one was lost to follow up. Co-morbities such as cancer, end stage liver disease, end stage renal failure or HIV were not significant in our survivor population.

CONCLUSIONS: Survival to discharge for an in-hospital SCA remains very poor. The percentage of survivors in our series is higher than most reported and therefore, we looked to see what the characteristics of our survivors were. We found that our survivors were young, African American and had undergone a PEA arrest. We did not find significant co-morbities in the survivors. Also, 8 of 10 patients were alive and without significant health deficits after their arrest.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The reported survival to hospital discharge rates from our hospital was higher than most reported survival after in-hospital arrest data. We believe that younger age played strongly in determining survival while no other critical factors could be identified.

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